Jeff Sessions: mr. conrad: okay. rad so senator might use in opposition on this amendment. mr. sessions: i thank the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, i just, as we get into this debate, we need to -- mr. conrad: if the senator would just withhold, i can

Jeff Sessions: opposition has 28 1/2 minutes. mr. sessions: mr. president, first, i just want to repeat the situation that we find ourselves in, and my colleagues are quick to say president bush spent us into bankruptcy, he did all this reckless spending. and that's th today.

Jeff Sessions: well, president bush, in my opinion, did spend too money. and the debt was too high during his eight years in office. last spring i voted against sending out $150 billion in checks. i didn't think that was a good a democratic majority here

Jeff Sessions: supported that steadfastly, overwhelmingly. spend, spend, spend is what we've beeneeing over therement, over the years and in fact with this have and on the budget, republicans aren't able to take the heat.

Jeff Sessions: republicans aren't able to say to colleagues. they have the votes. they can pass whatever they want. but i do want to say that these are some accurate figures the bush budget. his worst deficit in 2003 was

Jeff Sessions: after 9/11, after he inherited an economic slowdown. the nasdaq index,he high-tech bubble had burst -- when he took office, the day he took of course, the nasdaq had already collapsed and lost half its value. we were in a recession. then we were months later, and the money got

Jeff Sessions: spent. and so we ended up with a $412 billion deficit that year. we thought it was horrible. for three years that deficit was reduced untiliscal year 2007, we had a deficit of $161 billion. we'd worked it down and were heading in the right direction

Jeff Sessions: until last year he sent out those checks and we had an economic slowdown, and both houses controlled by the democrats voted overwhelmingly to spend another $150 billion to stimulate the economy and it didn't work. and so we ended up with a $455

Jeff Sessions: him, but much of it can -- our deficit this year will not be $455 billion. it won't be $800 billion. it won it won't be $1.4 trillion. it will be this year. nothing has ever been seen like

Jeff Sessions: this before, ever. and next year it will bever $1 trillion. and in the out years of the president's ten-year will be increasing -- the debt will, the annual trillion. in fact the tenth year of his budget, according to our own congressional budget office,

Jeff Sessions: basically hired by the democratic majority here, they're scoring the deficit in th added to the other. that's why this irrefutable goes from $5 trillion to $11 trillion, doubling, and in ten

Jeff Sessions: -- and tripling in ten years. at is not budget chairman has said. mr. president, i see my colleagues are on the floor, and i would be pleased to have a discussion with reconciliation process. let me just say this:

Jeff Sessions: in a time of economic hardship when families are struggling to pay their bills and businesses are laying off people in order to survive, the last thing we raising taxes hurts the family budget and kills jobs, yet the president's budget contains the largest tax increase in american

Jeff Sessions: history, $1.5 trillion over the next ten years. again, i would note that our deficit is not because we're not increasing taxes; we are increasing taxes. the spending is so great its it still triples the debt. i'd be pleased to yield. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. ensign: was the senator

Jeff Sessions: aware that the president's budget proposes energy tax that will be paid by every person who turns on the light switch, heats their home or puts gasoline in their car? mr. sessions: that's correct. under the president's plan, the average american family will see